THE SILVER SLEEPER

A 555 HP 7.3L THAT FLIES UNDER THE RADAR

7.3Lperformance is like a fine wine—it’s only getting better with age. Not only are ’94.5-’03 Fords being made to outrun Detroit’s latest and greatest, but they’re blowing the doors off of modified diesels as well. While bringing the oil-fired V-8 up to modern horsepower standards and beyond requires some work, it’s much easier (and cheaper) than you think. This is especially true if you know how to fortify your own transmission and tune your own truck. Enter Chuck Dorsey and his ’00 F-350.

His 22-foot long Super Duty epitomizes the perfect 7.3L sleeper. Sporting the stock ride height, factory Alcoas, and conventional exit exhaust, it appears to be a run-of-the-mill, untouched ’99-’03 Ford. But Chuck’s F-350 is much more than the loud, 235hp version that left the factory nearly 18 years ago. It’s still loud— don’t get us wrong—but it makes three times the power it did when it rolled off the assembly line. “Around here [in Missouri], Cummins and Duramax guys are pretty surprised when I leave them,” Chuck tells us.

Forged-rod, Stock Bottom End

Even after the original engine ejected a connecting rod at the 260,000-mile mark, Chuck went right back to a stock, forged-rod short block. But why? For starters, it’s been proven time and again that forged rods can live for thousands of miles in the sub-600hp range. And as the owner of Dorsey Diesel, a company that specializes in all things 7.3L, Chuck has a few core blocks sitting around... Freshly rebuilt, the forged-rod version currently bolted between the truck’s frame rails sports nothing more than a few valve train upgrades, namely Irate Diesel Performance’s beehive valve springs and Smith Brothers pushrods. ARP studs secure a set of stock heads to the block.

Hybrids & Adrenaline

After running a set of 160cc injectors and making respectable power in the mid-400hp range for a time, Chuck recently stepped up his injector game to hybrids. Built by Unlimited